SAS seizes rockets, ammunition in raid

Australian Special Air Service troops have seized more than 1400 rockets and large quantities of land mines, grenades, guns and ammunition in a recent operation in Afghanistan.

In joint operations with United States and Afghan troops the SAS troops met no resistance as they gathered the arsenal from villages in the mountains in Afghanistan's east.

The operation is likely to be one of the most significant conducted by the SAS in its final weeks in Afghanistan. The first SAS troops begin pulling out of the battle-scarred nation next week and most are expected to be home for Christmas.

Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Mike Hannan said more than 1200 of the rockets, and other weapons considered unstable or unusable, were destroyed. But serviceable ammunition was inspected and handed over to the new Afghan National Army, he said.

"There is no doubt that the local population and the coalition forces are safer as a result of this ordnance being out of circulation. And the operation is a good example of how the coalition forces are creating a more stable environment in Afghanistan," he said at a defence briefing in Canberra yesterday.

The timetable for the SAS to come home, which is likely to extend beyond Christmas, means they will have been in Afghanistan for at least 12 months. The first of up to 450 SAS troops left Australia in late November last year.

They have played a crucial role in an operation that rid Afghanistan of the Taliban regime and hunted members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.

The SAS has served in three rotations. Some SAS troops have been to Afghanistan, and battled temperatures as cold as minus 20 degrees more than once.

Cooks, logistics specialists and medical staff have been among the SAS personnel.

The prime function of the SAS has been reconnaissance. In many operations the troops have travelled through the field independently trying to identify terrorist targets, including possible al Qaeda leaders.

They have been praised by their coalition comrades and there have been several highlights.

In a lengthy battle at the beginning of March, the troops helped rescue almost 40 American survivors of a downed coalition helicopter. Although they came under heavy fire, the Australians suffered no casualties in the battle, which occurred in the mountains south-east of Kabul, near the Pakistan border. At least seven US soldiers died.

The battle, against about 1000 al Qaeda fighters, occurred during Operation Anaconda, an operation to push the al Qaeda fighters out of their mountain stronghold. At the time the Defence Force said the battle was the biggest engagement Australian troops had involved in since the Vietnam War.

About two months earlier, after weeks of surveillance, SAS troops successfully conducted a dawn raid on an al Qaeda training complex where documents believed to belong to al Qaeda were found together with ammunition and explosives.

Two soldiers have been rewarded for exceptional performances in Afghanistan. Sergeant Matthew Bouillaut received the Australian Distinguished Service Medal, while Lieutenant-Colonel Rowan Tink was awarded a US Bronze Star.

But SAS troops have also experienced tragedy.

In February Sergeant Andrew Russell was killed by a landmine while on patrol late at night. Another SAS soldier, Christian Salvatore, suffered a serious foot injury from a landmine in another incident.